Future must be made sustainable:Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey says the upcoming intergenerational report will contain both "startling and very encouraging" statistics about Australia's future.

The fourth edition of the five-yearly review will be released at the end of the month.

Mr Hockey said the release will coincide with a "very deep engagement program" that will reach out to the community and aim to collectively solve the problems and challenges facing Australia over the next few decades.

"It's exciting. I think the nation is ready for a conversation about our future," Mr Hockey told Fairfax radio on Tuesday.

"We want to make our future sustainable."

It will show Australians are living longer, but that will mean providing better quality of health care, aged care and education.

"We can do it. We have just got to work at it," he said.

He said that is why the Abbott government is very focused on living within its means in the budget and focused on paying down the debt.

"Importantly we are focused on looking forward, looking at the challenges of the next 40 years and identifying what we can do now to make sure we have a decent quality of life," he said.